A Sense of Closure
by Seyunolu
Summary: The Time Machine ends on a very ambiguous note. This is my attempt to resolve that. 5 chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Seyunolu here. If you read El Goonish Shive, you know what that word actually means. Not that it has any meaning in the real world, I just thought it's make a cool username. Anyway, this is my first story, hooray! If you read my profile, you know that I wrote this for a school assignment. But go no further if you haven't read "The Time Machine" first!**

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Chapter 1

_At last, I will have proof of my time-traveling. At last, someone will believe my seemingly ludicrous claims of facing the eventual fate of mankind, deep in the hazy future. As the dial measuring days on my machine begins to spin forward ever faster, I contemplate just what man might achieve before degenerating into the Eloi and the Morlocks. As in ancient Rome, there must always be a period of glory before that of decadence! Surely our late nineteenth-century existence will seem primitive to humans several centuries from now! Of course, "now" is a relative term, and even more so when one is time-traveling… I plan to check on society's progress at several intervals of approximately one hundred years each, with written and photographical records. That should be enough documentation to persuade even my skeptical little dinner group, let alone my good friend Herbert!_

_Goodness! I have become wrapped up in my musings, and not paid the slightest bit of attention to what is happening outside! For although the year is now only 1965, I see great towers obscuring the horizon over London, and as time passes by, more keep going up with increasing speed, and the houses on the outskirts cluster together and sprawl further out… And yet I have only just come to the realization that I can observe all of this because my laboratory has been knocked down, as has my house... Ah! Yet again, I have become engrossed in my thoughts, and time has gotten away from me. Let's see… Grasp the lever, bring it back towards me… there. I have overshot my goal a bit; the year is now 2007._

That was what Alexander thought as he traveled to our own time. He landed in the middle of a street. It was night-time. He pondered the fact that the streetlamps were filled with bright white light rather than flickering flames. _They must be powered by electricity rather than gas,_ he thought._ I suppose we have Thomas Edison to thank for that. And what are all the strange metal carriages lining the side of the road? Could they be automobiles…?_

A police constable rounded the street corner. _No doubt he'll want to know exactly what is going on,_ Alexander thought. The officer noticed him, and hurried over.

"What's all this, then? What's that strange contraption you've got there, and why've you got it parked in the middle of the street?"

" What do you mean by parked, constable?"

"Are you funny in the head?"

"No, sir, but you'll believe I am if I tell you the answers to your first two questions, so I think I'd best not."

"Well, I don't really care if you do or not, as long as you get that thing out of the street, it's blocking the way… Hang on! It's got no wheels, how'd you get it out here in the first place?"

"Well, constable…"

SCREEEEEECH!!! HONNNNNK!!! Alex jumped right off the Time Machine. A car had appeared behind them, headlights blaring, radio blasting. _I suppose they are automobiles, as there are no horses,_ he thought. A man in a suit leaned out the window and started shouting at them.

"What's going on? I've got to get through!"

"You might as well go around, sir, this chap's being difficult…"

"What!? I can't go around, my house is on this block!"

"Now, see here…"

_Well, I'll leave them to it._ Alexander dragged his Time Machine to the side of the street, pocketed the control levers and went on his way. _Whatever there is to see of the society of the future, I suppose it is in the center of the city._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_…I am completely in awe. Is this Piccadilly Square? I see Big Ben, of course, and some other buildings that were there in my time, but so much has changed! Of course, I don't understand anything, but… Little devices that can perform almost every mathematical function and yet fit in your pocket? Tiny wireless versions of Alexander Bell's masterpiece that can be carried anywhere, work almost anywhere, and also fit in your pocket? Huge advertisements everywhere for every little thing you can think of, and many you can't? Small cinemas contained in boxes for people's homes? With sound? And games that can be played in junction with these boxes, use a complex system of control using many switches and wires, and which are almost like reality!? And to think the simple discovery of electrical circuits is at the heart of it all! If this is how far mankind has come in little over a century, I cannot wait to see what happens in another century! I…_

Grrrooowwllll.

_Goodness! That was my stomach! In all my excitement I have forgotten not only to eat, but to be hungry. I must get something to eat… Oh, that's right, I did pack a few sandwiches along with my camera… and speaking of cameras! The ones they have now, they're so tiny!_

The sun dawned as Alexander ate. _I see today's newspaper is being delivered to those handy coin-operated dispensers they can be bought from now,_ he thought. _Hang on! That's a photograph of my Time Machine on the front page! Let's see what the article says…_

**Strange Machine Baffles Scotland Yard**

At about 11:30 last night, the bomb squad received an odd call from police constable Robert Brown. He had come across a very strange machine while patrolling in the outskirts of London.

"I came 'round a corner and there was this guy sitting on a weird contraption in the middle of the street. One of the weirdest things was, it's got no wheels, so he would have had to drag it from wherever. Anyway, I talked to him, and he seemed like a real loony. Said I wouldn't believe him if he told me what it was. But then I got in an argument with this other guy who nearly drove his car right into us.

"When I turned around, the machine was parked on the side of the street like I'd asked, and the weird guy was gone. And then I thought, 'Wait! Maybe it's a huge bomb!' So I called the Anti-Terrorism Squad."

The Squad has since determined that it is not a bomb. However, since they cannot determine just what it is, it will be handed over to private researchers sometime this afternoon.

Van Forester of the Scotland Yard Anti-Terrorism Squad said that

_(continued on page A7)_

_Goodness gracious!_ he thought._ I must get to Scotland Yard at once and reclaim my Time Machine!_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Excuse me!"

The secretary gave Alexander a disinterested look. "Do you have an appointment?"

"What?"

Now it was positively disdainful. "You can't see the head of Scotland Yard without an appointment. What, you thought you could just march into his office?"

"See here, it's rather important…"

" Look, buster, I don't care if it's a matter of life or death, you have to have an appointment!"

An old, respectable-looking gentleman approached.

"What's this? Heather, what have I told you time and again?"

She mumbled something unintelligible.

"Louder, please."

"_A receptionist gives visitors the vital first impression of any institution_," she recited dully.

"_Precisely! _Guests will think the same of the whole building as of the receptionist! And _that_ is why, Heather, you must always be polite to visitors.

"Now then!" He was speaking to Alexander now. "I am Samuel Schneider, Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. What can I do for you?"

"Well, you see, the machine that you seized belongs to me, and…"

"Oh! And you'd like it back? Well, I'll have to verify that you really are the owner. Robert!"

The same police officer from the previous night came running.

"Yes, sir? …Hey! You're that funny chap from last night!"

"Well, then," says the Inspector, "Everything's in order. We've got your contraption over here. Follow me."

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**Yes, I _know_ it was a very short chapter, just bear with me, please.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

They stopped after a minute, and Samuel opened a door marked _STORAGE_. Sure enough, there sat Alexander's Time Machine, thankfully undamaged. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, there you are, Mr. ...I don't believe we've been introduced?"

"Alexander Foxworthy."

"Ah. Well, Mr. Foxworthy, I don't suppose you mind telling me just what this thing... Er, well... _Does_?"

"I'd... rather not say."

"Oh, come on, my best men are all stumped! We've looked at the mechanisms, but they're completely alien to us! I thought it might be some new invention that hasn't been publicized yet, but I checked with the patent registry and they've got nothing of the sort on file! If you invented this thing, you ought to patent it right away! That way, Scotland Yard won't look like a laughingstock when we come across something unusual!"

"Well, alright, but I'll have to prove it to you. If you would sit here, please?" He pointed to the seat of the Time machine.

"Very well."

They both sat down on the Time Machine, and Alexander pulled the first lever towards him. After a moment, Samuel asked him, "Well? What is it?"

"It is a time machine of my own invention. And we are traveling backwards in time at this very moment."

"Hahahahaha! Come on, seriously! You can't honestly expect me to… believe… that…"

Samuel's voice trailed off, for he had just witnessed something extraordinary. The building's janitor had just entered the storage room, picked up a large box, and exited again, only in the space of two seconds, just as if he was watching a video and had pressed the _FAST FORWARD_ button. (Of course, since they were traveling _backwards_, as we know, the janitor had actually _put_ the box there.) Even stranger, he had taken no notice whatsoever of his boss sitting on an odd machine, along with an odd-looking person. And, Samuel just realized, he had not been the current janitor, but the previous one, who had been fired only two days ago.

"Actually, I do, " said Alexander, "and, as you have just seen, not without reason." He then pulled the second lever, to stop the machine.

"My God… So… You're from the future, then?" asked Samuel.

Alexander blinked in surprise. "And why would you assume that? I have come here from the year of 1895, to check on society's progress."

"Wha… Really? To think that a vehicle for traveling through time was impossible, and here someone did it more than a century ago… it's boggling."

"The concept in itself is boggling, Mr. Schneider. Now, I must return you to your proper time of three days from now."

**_Three days later…_**

The time machine faded into view in the small storage room, and Samuel stumbled out, mumbling, "Oooggh… I don't feel well at all…"

"The sensation of time-travel is rather queer before you get used to it," replied Alexander. "So, now what shall we do?"

"I… I've got to c-call the p-Prime Minister," stuttered Samuel. And with that, he reached in his pocket, pulled out his cell phone, and dialed Tony Blair's office.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Tony Blair was not happy. Half an hour ago, he had been sitting at home in a comfortable armchair, sipping a nice cup of tea and enjoying a good book. No noise, no desk work, no Parliament, no reporters, no paparazzi, nothing standing between him and one of the blissful moments of peace which he so rarely got nowadays. Then, he got a strange call from the head of Scotland Yard about that "bomb" they had seized last night, which turned out not to be anything, and had already caused him two hours of unnecessary stress.

But Schneider wouldn't be clear about why the Prime Minister _had_ to come over _right this second_, and avoided the question when asked. Then again, he had also sounded very jumpy and nervous, whereas he was normally very calm and level-headed. _Oh, well,_ Blair thought,_ seeing as I've got nothing better to do…_

His limousine pulled up to the curb outside the Yard's offices, and as he got out, everyone around him stopped and stared. An old man gasped. As he crossed the sidewalk, they all rushed to get out of his way.

Blair sighed and pushed open the door. He never got used to that.

As he entered Samuel's office, he saw the Chief Inspector, looking just as distraught in person as he had sounded over the phone, and another man who seemed strangely out of place, and also familiar somehow, although the Prime Minister could not put his finger on why.

"Samuel, what is going on here?" he asked in a slightly exasperated voice. Samuel jumped; he had clearly been somewhere else mentally.

"Oh! Sir! You're here! Er… This fine gentleman is the inventor of this… um… thingy…

He pointed to the time machine, which had been moved into the office.

"Yes, alright, but what _is_ it!?"

"It is a vehicle for traveling through time, sir." Alexander had spoken for the first time.

"_What!!_ You dragged me out here for a _practical joke!? _I was having a _perfectly nice morning _for once and you _ruined _it!! For_ what!?_"

"Do you honestly think I would joke about something like this?" Samuel asked.

"If not, then this man has taken you in!"

"Sir, are you implying that I'm _gullible?_" Samuel was incensed. "Look, I traveled with him in the blasted thing, I'm not in a position to say that Mr. Foxworthy here is a liar!"

"_Then prove it!!!_"

For a moment, there was total silence.

Then, Alexander said boldly, "Well, that's why I have this, don't I?" He gestured for Blair to sit down on the time machine.

"_Fine_, I'll humor you," Blair grumbled, and sat down without another word. Alexander sat beside him, and pulled the first lever back. As they began to fade out of view, Blair looked up and exclaimed, "Hey, wait a minu…" His voice trailed off into time.

Only a few moments later, they came back into view; a very shaken, disturbed Tony Blair, and an Alexander who looked, if anything, a little smug.

"I…stand…corrected." the Prime Minister forced out. "He took me…back to the day…I was elected…I…I met my former self…outside this building…was so scared I ran off without even thinking…then I remembered…on that day…seeing that same older me…run off…alongside the man…that now sits next to me." He stumbled off the machine, looking much the worse for wear,

collapsed into Samuel's chair, and didn't say anything more for about three minutes.

Then, "A-Alexander… You must destroy it."

"Destroy my time machine, sir? But… Why?" Alexander was puzzled.

"Think of the havoc it could wreak…if this got out, it would change the universe…for the worse. Everyone would be going back in time to save a loved one's life, or into the future to check on them, or bring souvenirs from other periods, criminals would escape into time… There would be complete chaos. And think of the other consequences. People would be altering the natural timeflow every minute of every day. Time itself would be polluted, and time, I would imagine, is a fragile thing. If it gets cut and spliced too much, it could be destroyed. All of existence could cease to be!"

Alexander stood there in awe. He, obviously, had not considered any of this. Samuel, as well, had listened to this monologue without saying a thing. And they both knew that Tony Blair was right.

"Listen… Alex… I can help you get started here. You'll need plenty of things, not the least of which is money; even if you

brought any with you, inflation will have made it good for not much by now. Besides, overall, I think you'll like our time period." At this, Blair had just the hint of a smile.

Alexander left the room, and returned a few minutes later, holding a long metal bar. Neither of the other two asked where he got it.

As if in a trance, he walked slowly up to the time machine and whispered, "Goodbye." Then, Alexander Foxworthy, inventor of the time machine, raised the bar over his head, and brought it down with driving force upon his own creation.

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**Dramatic ending! Woot! For those of you who realized that the "time pollution" monologue was a metaphor for global warming, kudos. This is my first story, so _please review!!!_**


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